Basketball player Jaden Newman has already built quite the resume. She is a member of her school's girls basketball team in Orlando, Florida. Last season she averaged 30.5 points per game. She has recently gained national media attention for beating 2015 NBA MVP Stephen Curry in a three-point contest. She also received a letter of recruitment from the University of Miami women's basketball team.
And she's only 10 years old.
With these statistics and achievements, it seems like Jaden was born with a basketball in her hands. In a sense, she was. One article says she started dribbling a ball at two years old and a year later could dribble two at the same time. Her interest of basketball could be attributed to the fact that the game runs in her family. Both parents played high school ball, her dad is the varsity coach at her high school, and her brother Julian is becoming a basketball phenom himself (his highlight videos have 6 million views on YouTube). She's played with her brother and other boys her whole life, so the switch to playing with high school girls was an easy one. Another reason why she dominates the court is because of her work ethic. Her basketball workout includes practice with her brother, 1,000 shots, and an hour of ball-handling. Makes me exhausted just thinking about it.
All of this practice is helping her to reach impressive goals. "I work hard because I want to be the best girl to ever play basketball." Jaden says she wants to go to college at the University of Connecticut, then the WNBA, and after that she wants to be the first girl in the NBA. Before you dismiss the notion of a woman playing in the NBA, you better take a look at her stats.
Last year as a 5th grader, Jaden averaged 30.5 points per game for her varsity team at Downey Christian High School. This is an amazing feat for a small girl playing with girls much bigger than her and eight or nine years older. She also racked up 594 points last season. In her 3rd and 4th grade seasons, she averaged 7.7 and 15.1 points per game respectively. When I played at that age I was just worried someone would pass me the ball. Her ability at such a young age is incredible and almost unheard of. In a private school, younger students can play as long as the student can excel and the parents approve. Jaden's mother says that some people were against her being allowed to play for the varsity team, but she supports Jaden because she has such passion and love for the game.
This year Jaden is in 6th grade, and her season is on track to be a great one. In just her first game of the season, this 10 year old scored 57 points. That's enough to make heads turn at any stage of the game. Only two games into the season, she has scored 104 points. Because of this, she has become the first player to reach 1,000 points in high school. And better yet, she has seven years of high school basketball ahead of her. She says, "I'm only 10. I have a lot of years to get better."
This may be the first time you've heard of basketball superstar Jaden Newman, but I'm sure it won't be the last.
